1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a large-capacitance multilayer ceramic electronic component having improved withstand voltage characteristics and excellent reliability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In accordance with the recent trend for the miniaturization of electronic devices, multilayer ceramic electronic components have also been required to be small and have high capacitance.
Therefore, various methods to allow dielectric layers and internal electrodes to be thinned and multilayered have been attempted. Recently, as the thickness of dielectric layers has been reduced, multilayer ceramic electronic components having an increased number of laminations have been manufactured.
As the thicknesses of dielectric layers and the internal electrodes have been decreased in order to realize a large capacity, the thickness of individual internal electrodes may be neither uniform nor continuous, and thus, internal electrodes may be partially disconnected, resulting in a degradation in component performance.
As described above, in the case in which the internal electrode is partially disconnected, the disconnected electrode portion may have a pointed tip or be protruded into an adjacent dielectric layer, and thus, an electrical field may be focused on the pointed tip portion or the non-uniformly protruded portion of the disconnected region, resulting in a deterioration of breakdown voltage (BDV) characteristics.
The above defects may cause a deterioration of insulation properties, and thus, deteriorate reliability of the multilayer ceramic electronic component.